Deciding to Take Ayahuasca

Introduction

The use of ayahuasca is expanding increasingly in occidental society. References to ayahuasca appear more and more frequently on the Internet and other media. However, it is difficult to find objective information about the potential risks and benefits associated with its use, and what you can expect when choosing to participate in a session. Here you find information that is aimed to help you make responsible decisions, reduce risks and maximize potential benefits.

Decision Making

Deciding to take ayahuasca

The decision to participate in a session should always be one taken by the individual, not by their relative or friend. This decision should be based on a clear understanding of the potential risks and benefits in relation to your medical history, mental health, and general emotional condition. Ayahuasca is sometimes presented as a panacea for any illness, and it may seem like an easy solution to personal problems. However, it is only a tool which, if used properly, can catalyze a therapeutic or personal growth process. Every person is different and a large part of our internal thought processes and emotions are unknown territory. This is where this tool can have its function: it can allow an individual to gain more awareness of their emotions, thoughts, behavior, body and relationships. This increased self-awareness can facilitate a process of adjustment of these different aspects, resulting in an overall improvement in life.

Types of sessions

Ayahuasca sessions are usually done in a group setting ranging from five to twenty-five people; occasionally, there may be as many as one hundred participants in a session — or even more. The sessions take place mostly at night, although there are infrequent day sessions as well. An ayahuasca session usually lasts between three and seven hours. There are centers or groups where one stays to sleep after the session, but this is not always the case. The session is always led by a facilitator who can be a healer, a shaman or ‘neo-shaman’, a therapist, a padrinho or mestre in the ayahuasca churches, or any other person that has extensive experience with ayahuasca and has learned to facilitate sessions. In the beginning of the session, there is often some time reserved for the participants to share their intentions for the session and why he/she has decided to participate. Once the sharing of intention is finished, the ayahuasca is distributed for the participants to drink their cup.

The ayahuasca experience can have different phases. Sometimes, exploring one’s inner world can be accompanied by emotional pain or other form of suffering. It can also be accompanied by a release of stress. Therefore, it is not uncommon to hear participants crying or expressing this release in ayahuasca sessions, especially those oriented towards healing, throughout the night. Also, due to the purgative effects of ayahuasca, vomiting occurs frequently, which is done into a bucket inside the room or at a designated place outside. In general, the music made by the facilitator is what leads the experience, although there are also people that work with silence.

In general there are three types of sessions: traditional/shamanic, religious and therapeutic, although all three types are interconnected: a religious or shamanic session can have therapeutic outcome, or during a therapy oriented session a mystical-religious experience might occur.

The shamanic session

There is a wide range of traditional and shamanic sessions. These sessions are usually led by shamans, also called ‘curanderos’ (healers) or ‘vegetalistas’, originating from South America or Western disciples who have been trained in these indigenous traditions, sometimes called ‘neo-shamans’. These sessions are usually oriented towards healing, they have a spiritual focus and may involve purging practices prior to taking ayahuasca, for example by ingesting tobacco, in order to ‘cleanse’ the body of possible toxins. The sessions are usually held in the dark or around a fire, where the experience is guided by the signing of the shaman, live music with instruments like maracas, drums, mouth harp, etc. The type of music is different in different countries and traditions. For example, in Peru they perform songs called Icaros.

The shaman or healer is usually accompanied by assistants who help participants with practical issues, such as going to the toilet, or in difficult moments, and are also involved in the musical performance. The shaman uses techniques such as blowing tobacco smoke on the participants, odorizing the room and participants with incense such as Palo Santo or Agua Florida, besides leading the session with music and/or singing. These types of sessions require generally an intense personal labor. The worldview of these sessions is based on the one of traditional indigenous culture, which has a spiritual and spiritualist focus, in which these sessions defer mostly with the sessions that have a western therapeutic approach.

The therapeutic session

In settings that have a therapeutic approach, understood within a framework of Western psychotherapy, ayahuasca is considered a useful tool for therapeutic or personal growth processes. These sessions usually incorporate a preparation phase before the session and an integration phase after it. These sessions vary according to the facilitator and his/her way of working. Some variants may be the possibility of individual sessions, the use of different types of music, alternating digital music with live music, or working with silence in different ways.

Sessions in which therapeutic work is performed before and after the experience are more common to find in occidental therapeutic contexts than in shamanic contexts, in which the session is usually merely the experience itself, and, in the best case, an integration session the morning after. Of course, there are exceptions.

Religious

In many parts of the world, you can find syncretic churches that use ayahuasca as a sacrament, originating from Brazil. The most important ones are the Santo Daime, União do Vegetal and Barquinha. The members of these churches take ayahuasca as often as two to four times per month. While the context of the church is religious, there are healing sessions, as well as others. The religious and healing objectives as well as the aim to create cohesion of the community are often intertwined. These sessions are highly ritualized and have very precise rules and guidelines on how to participate and behave. Hymns are usually sung during the ceremonies, but there are also sessions in silent concentration. In some group’s participants ask the mestres questions about philosophical and religious issues during sessions. There are sessions in which the participants are seated and others in which they dance simple and repetitive steps. Depending on the group, participants do or do not go home after the ceremony, with or without integration work. There is actually as much variety as there are churches. In any case, because these are small communities, there is often follow-up of each person’s process that may be more or less formally supervised.

How to select a place

If you’ve decided to take ayahuasca, it’s important to choose an appropriate context, in line with your intentions and what you seek to get out of the experience. In general, it is best to avoid attending sessions where no preparation and integration of any kind is offered. It is also advisable to choose sessions in which those responsible do some form of follow-up for the participants. This way, if you happen to experience any issues in the period following the session or difficulties with the integration of the experience, you can receive support for the time needed. In general, it is advisable to choose a place where individuals can stay overnight after the experience is over, or perhaps spend the entire weekend.

For most people, an ayahuasca experience is an introspective experience, most of which is spent looking ‘inwards’ with closed eyes, although the group element plays an important role. It may be that you feel uncomfortable being surrounded by a group of strangers with whom you will share the session. Knowing your teammates before taking, or sharing group intentions often helps to relax.

Another important aspect for choosing a center or group is based on whether they have exclusion criteria. This means that the center should have an interview prior to the admission to the session and exclude the participation of individuals that are suspected to potentially be subjected to harm instead of benefit due to specific conditions. If they have no exclusion criteria, do not ask you for your medical history or possible psychiatric conditions, do not objectively inform you about the potential risks of taking ayahuasca or present ayahuasca as a panacea that cures everything, then they will probably not offer you a responsible and safe setting. If a healer or other facilitator has ‘guru’ behavior, presents him/herself as “the world’s best ayahuasquero” or is not sensitive to your personal situation and the reasons why you want to participate, it is highly recommended not to put your faith in his/her hands. This applies to anybody who approaches you with behavior conveying sexual connotations. If you are promised guaranteed results for the session, this is not a good indication either.

Basically, it’s a good sign if the information about ayahuasca provided by the organizer before the session seems objective and in line with the information provided in this text, if he does the sessions in small groups with no more than twenty participants per session, and if there are assistants present during the session and she does a preliminary selection of the participants. Even then, it is still a good idea to hear the opinions of people who have previously participated on the center or group through social networks or direct contact.

When you have decided with whom you wish to take ayahuasca, make sure to have a personal interview with him/her a few days or weeks prior to the session. Many facilitators advise changes in daily habits before the session, such as reducing the ingestion of salt, sexual abstinence, etc. Each person has his/her own criteria, and if you decide to place your trust in him/her, their recommendations should be followed even if you do not entirely find them useful.

Risks & Exclusion Criteria

Physical risks

In medical terms, ayahuasca has few contraindications. Only if you have a serious cardiovascular disorder should you not take ayahuasca, as it slightly increases blood pressure. No alterations of liver function and other biochemical parameters have been observed after the administration of ayahuasca in the laboratory. Only a modulation of the immune system has been detected, but this is temporary and does not seem to have clear effects on health.

It is very important to consult with a physician if you are taking any medication chronically, or if you have to take medication during the days of the ayahuasca session. The use of antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs may be contraindicated for the use of ayahuasca, as well as the use of drugs metabolized by certain cytochromes. Not only psychotropic drugs may be contraindicated; so might any drug capable of interacting with MAO (as MAOIs: Monoamine oxidase inhibitors). The combined use of ayahuasca with drugs that use the same metabolic pathways can be dangerous. It is very important to consult a specialist.

If you have a chronic illness, it can be dangerous to stop taking the medication for some time with the intent to take ayahuasca. It is very important to consult a specialist. In any case, always carry the medication with you, even if you will only be away from home for a few hours. Ayahuasca sessions are often held in places that are far from urban centers which are sometimes difficult to access. If for any reason you cannot return home on time, not having your medication with you can become a problem.

Tyramine is a monoamine that is naturally present in some foods. Above all fermented products such as aged cheeses, soy sauce, wine or beer, and certain meats, nuts, etc., are rich in tyramine. On the Internet you can find lists of products that are rich in tyramine. Avoid combining foods with high concentrations of tyramine with ayahuasca, because it can cause hypertensive crisis with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, sweating, increased heart rate, dilated pupils and, very infrequently, brain hemorrhage and death. In any case, the ayahuasca MAOIs disappear from the body very quickly, so it is unlikely that you will have poisoning if you take foods rich in tyramine before or after the session. Although it is very unlikely you would ingest such foods while under the influence of ayahuasca, we recommend you to not do this.

Although not very common, there are cases of people who faint during the experience. It is important to be aware that if a person gets up on a hard floor or with hard objects around, he/she can get hurt if he/she falls.

Psychological risks

If you have a history of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, psychosis, personality disorders, or bipolar disorder, among others, taking ayahuasca involves a high risk, especially if your disorder is active. It is true that the use of medications for such conditions is not always satisfactory, but that does not mean that ‘alternative’ treatments are. If you are still convinced that you want to have an ayahuasca experience, it is very important that you openly discuss this with the facilitator of the session. Some people would refuse to admit you to their sessions if you tell them you have a history of mental disorders, and others might not. The important thing is not whether you are being admitted or not, but making sure the admission is not just for their personal profit and getting the assurance that, whatever happens, they will take care of you. There are people with histories of mental disorders that have done well after taking ayahuasca, but there are also others in which symptoms have re-emerged. It is therefore very important to take that risk into account, choose well with whom you are going to take ayahuasca, and to be sincere and honest about your medical history. The sincerity of the facilitator regarding your well-being is also very important. If you don’t perceive this sincerity, and this also counts for people without a history of mental disorders, it is wise not to take ayahuasca with this person.

The worst that can happen after taking ayahuasca is that the effects may prolonged after they should have begun to disappear. It may happen that the effects increase at the end of the session because you relax yourself, or after vomiting, but if they persist long after the session ends you should notify those responsible. There are techniques to help you get back to normal, but there are some cases where this does not work and medication or even continued treatment is required. These cases are very rare, but they exist and are documented in scientific literature. This may be because of a prior psychiatric condition, but there are some cases of seemingly psychologically healthy people who have gone through these experiences as well. These cases are very rare and symptoms may include paranoia, ideas of self-reference (“everyone talks about me”), delusions (ideas that are incoherent and absurd, even in that particular state of consciousness) or severe confusion. These symptoms are very different from episodes of fear or confusion that can occur under the effects of ayahuasca, which are transient, and often part of the experience.

Benefits

Preparation

The Session

After ingesting the ayahuasca, the effect comes up, depending on the person, in about ten minutes to one hour, and lasts up to two to four hours. There are many types of ayahuasca depending on its preparation, as every shaman can use a variety of plants to modulate the effect, e.g. tobacco, brugmansia, brunfelsia, etc. Each plant has its own effect that adds to the overall experience. So the duration and the intensity of the ayahuasca experience can vary greatly from one session to another depending on the content of the preparation. There are centers and groups that use very powerful ayahuascas and others where several cups of a softer decoction is taken. Many facilitators do not give high doses to people taking for the first time, making them first familiar with the effects before giving higher doses.

The ayahuasca experience produces changes in the way we perceive reality. The texture of reality can become brighter, more colorful and composed of patterns of luminous energetic vibration. The beginning of the experience is usually when one notices with both eyes open and closed that the textures of reality change. Also the appearance of a buzzing in the ears can announce that the psychological effects are approaching. While having the eyes closed, the experience is much more intense than with eyes open, although with open eyes the change in the texture of reality is always noticed. A common strategy, in fact, when the content of the experience is too intense with eyes closed, is simply to open the eyes, which dampens the effects.

During the course of the experience, visions usually appear with abstract motifs but also clearly identifiable sharp images. Emotions are perceived more profoundly and one can access forgotten memories. There are people who experience paranormal phenomena as telepathy or precognition. Regardless of whether these effects are really paranormal, the truth is that subjectively these are common elements of the experience.

Also fears or difficult emotions can appear that may be accompanied by blockages in the body (pains, tension, etc.). The best thing to do in tough times is to breathe slowly and deeply, go with the music and have confidence in the process induced by the ayahuasca and the facilitator. It is normal, especially in the case of beginners, not to have visionary effects in the first sessions, but this is not always the case. It seems that in some cases, it is as if the ayahuasca visions need some kind of visual and cognitive learning process before they can be fully experienced.

Ayahuasca also modifies the habitual way of thinking. When one is not experiencing visions he/she might believe he/she is not experiencing any psychological effect, while the truth is that an external observer would clearly notice such effects. So never leave a session because you think you’re not experiencing any effect. It may simply be that you have no visions but that your thinking process is altered. If you’ve decided to take ayahuasca, whatever happens, do not leave the session until those responsible authorize you to leave. It is better to spend some time being bored than end up in an accident because you wanted to leave abruptly before the end of the session, or taking the risk that the psychological effects manifest intensely after having left the room while being alone. Ayahuasca is a powerful plant; take it with respect even if you think you are not having any effect. For some people, it takes time for the effects to be noticed. Be cautious; there is time enough to go home.

Many consider ayahuasca as a mirror of the inner self, where, in the same way that internal conflicts may surface, so may surface your wonderful sides. When this happens, the experience can be of indescribable beauty.

It can sometimes happen that you have feelings of paranoia during the course of experience. The ayahuasca experience is not linear; rather, it goes through different phases, some more pleasant and others more difficult. As in any journey that is undertaken in life, there are moments of laughter, moments of sadness, moments of euphoria, moments of sudden insights and revealed truths, and moments of boredom and disappointment. Clinically, symptoms may appear similar to those seen in mental illness, primarily suspicion, paranoia and thoughts of self-reference (“everyone is looking at me” or “this or that happens because somehow I induce it”). These effects are normal during the time of the experience and are transient. The appearance of these effects is proof that these are experiences that happen to all of us at some moment in our lives for whatever circumstance, and although they can be uncomfortable, you should deal with them. Learning to deal with whatever comes up is always the best attitude for an ayahuasca session. And most importantly, do not hesitate to ask for help from your facilitator when you consider that you need it. That is what he/she is there for.

It may also happen that one is being immersed in perinatal states, as described by psychiatrist Stanislav Grof. The term refers to perinatal experiences related to the birth process. During an ayahuasca experience, one can relive the birth process itself, the biological delivery. According to Grof, the birth marks the first traumatic event a human being has to face and described this experience in four phases, or Basic Perinatal Matrixes as he calls them, which correspond to different stages of labor. Perinatal experiences can be very challenging and involve physical sensations such as breathlessness, pressure by contractions, pain, and psychological experiences of death and rebirth, existential void, psycho-spiritual rebirth, etc. These experiences are the basis for many of the rites of passage of ancient cultures.

While the ayahuasca experience lasts approximately four to six hours, depending on the number of ingestions that were done, the moments of confusion and disorientation or feeling of lack of control over the experience usually do not last more than 30 minutes. In any case, the usual perception of time under the influence of ayahuasca can be altered considerably. Time, as we experience it in ordinary states, may even cease to exist, so it is one’s own subjective time that governs the experience.

After finishing the session

Upon finishing the session, it is advisable to stay in the place of the session and not take the car or leave immediately to the outside world. You may be more sensitive than usual to external stimuli and you might feel emotionally mixed. Eating something light and writing, even if it is just telegraphically, the contents that emerged during your experience before bedtime may be helpful for the integration process.

Integration & Follow up